A-League Men plus one rule must be just one piece of a much larger Asia puzzle

At the back end of last year, stretching into the early part of this, the AFF Suzuki Cup, the biennial showpiece of Southeast Asian football, did what it always does: deliver unscriptable drama, unparalleled entertainment, and shine a spotlight on the emerging talents within southeast Asia.

The names of Thailand’s Supachok Sarachat, Indonesia’s Alfeandra Dewangga or Malaysia’s Safawi Rasid might not be familiar to fans here in Australia, but they shone in Singapore and are the sort of talent the Australian Professional Leagues, now in charge of the running of the A-League Men’s competition, will be hoping to attract to Australia with the proposed introduction of the ‘plus one’ rule for the competition.

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The ‘plus one’ rule has been widely adopted across Asia but stubbornly rejected time after time in Australia, with one former A-League club owner insultingly suggesting it would “ ... compromise the product we provide”.

The rule sets aside one foreign place specifically for a player from an AFC member nation to encourage greater movement of players within the continent, with the APL proposing to change to A-League Men’s quota from five foreigners to four plus one.

Its implementation across Asia has opened up a whole host of opportunities for Australian players across the continent from Japan to the Gulf and everywhere in between, but to date the open door has not been reciprocated.

Quite why it has taken the clubs this long to jump on board, especially after the resounding success of the AFC Asian Cup in 2015, is a question only they can answer.

But, better late than never.

“One of the unique selling points of our sport is